Deanna Madden

Falling in love can be complicated when you're eighteen and trying to figure out what to do with your life. Growing up in the small town of Sutter's Bend on the Oregon coast, Alec Morrissey and Jenny Chen have known each other all their lives, but they first really notice each other a week after graduation when Alec wanders out of a noisy party and finds Jenny sitting on the porch steps alone, depressed about the future. All her life she has wanted to be a scientist, but suddenly her parents say they can't afford college and she sees her lifelong dream slipping away. Alec, on the other hand, doesn't know what he wants to do, but he knows he doesn't want to study premed, as his parents have planned. On impulse Alec takes Jenny to a secluded spot on the coast where he sometimes goes when he wants to be alone with his thoughts. As waves pound against the nearby rocks, they share a kiss that sparks feelings neither was expecting. But odds are against their budding romance since Alec's parents won't approve of Jenny and Jenny's parents expect her to marry her longtime boyfriend. Meanwhile, Jenny's parents are harboring a secret that will change everything, and Alec's world is about to fall apart. As the two teens struggle to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way, their feelings for each other grow. But caught up in their problems, they fail to recognize a far more dangerous threat when a troubled young woman enters their lives who will put all they care about at risk.

As a hurricane threatens the coast of Texas, a woman from El Salvador and an American man looking for answers struggle to stay one step ahead of a violent ex-con bent on tracking them down. Sofia Ramirez, fleeing violence in El Salvador, has succeeded in reaching the U.S. but at a terrible cost: the loss of her 3-year-old son, taken from her by immigration authorities when she crossed the border. Six months later she still has no idea where he is. Mark Judd arrives on Mustang Island after a friend disappears while investigating Sofia's boyfriend Carlos Ruiz, a drug trafficker and owner of the bar where she works. He hopes that Sofia will be the key to learning what happened to his missing friend. At first Mark and Sofia are wary of each other, but when he stumbles into danger, she comes to his aid, putting herself in Carlos' cross-hairs. With a hurricane bearing down on them and on the run from Carlos, they must turn to each other if they want to survive . . .

When her grandfather dies, 19-year-old Lauren Ferguson, a college student and a gifted violinist, comes into possession of a sealed box that belonged to her mother, who died when she was born. Matt Malone, the rookie cop she meets after her apartment is broken into, thinks the box may be connected to the murder of Mr. Malinsky, her grandfather's friend who turns up dead the day after the funeral. A letter left by Lauren's grandfather warns her not to open the box, but she wonders if the box may contain information about the mother she never knew. As she debates whether to open it, her feelings for Matt grow and she begins to fear she will have to choose between him and her dream of becoming a violin virtuoso. Meanwhile, a killer may be stalking her. In her search for answers, Lauren travels to Sedona, Arizona, the red rock country where her parents met and fell in love, and where a revelation waits that will change everything she thought she knew.

429 B.C. After losing her family to the plague that strikes Athens in the second year of its war with Sparta, fifteen-year-old Rhea goes to live with her aunt and uncle. But when she fails to measure up to her aunt's expectations, she finds herself facing an arranged marriage to a cruel man more than twice her age.As she struggles to find a way to avoid the unwanted marriage, she hears about a handsome young athlete named Doros and resolves to catch a glimpse of him-no easy task in a society that believes daughters and wives belong in the home and should not go out in public without a chaperone. And is one glimpse enough?When she climbs the Acropolis to appeal to the goddess Athena for help, she encounters another young man who intrigues her: Maron, a gifted sculptor and a slave. As their friendship grows, he urges her to risk everything for the life she wants. But does she have the courage to take such a leap?With time running out, Rhea must decide whether to resign herself to the loveless marriage her society and the gods decree, or defy them and choose her own destiny in this poignant coming-of-age tale of love and the longing to be free.

When a mutated HIV virus causes a global epidemic, one city in the American Southwest builds a wall that divides the city into two zones, separating the infected from the uninfected. As the epidemic continues to spread, unrest grows in the South Zone, where the infected are quarantined. Now in the scorching heat of summer, their power has gone off, and it can only be a matter of time until the wall fails to hold back the coming firestorm of violence. When that happens, will any place be safe?25-year-old Sarah, who has sought refuge in the city after losing her family, lives in the North Zone and teaches children orphaned by the epidemic. To shield herself from more hurt, she distances herself emotionally from others, but she can't turn her back on everyone. Someone has to help the elderly woman who lives down the hall. And then there is the orphan Indian girl in her class who will be sent to a reservation to die unless she can prevent it. And how can she say no to Martin, the young hospital orderly from the South Zone who shows up at her high-rise with a bullet wound and a dangerous request?As the crisis escalates, Sarah must overcome her past trauma and join forces with friends and strangers to save the people she cares about. She must decide who she can trust and what risks she is willing to take, including the risk of letting herself love again.